Sunday, November 3, 2013

Salt, Sugar, Fat... Oh my!


Just when I thought that getting away from Pollan would bring a nice change in pace, I was mistaken when I began to flip the pages of Moss’ book. Cheese Wiz is the devil. Coke is the devil’s juice that is served best with a salty snack. Essentially, this is what I got from the book, so I am confused about the purpose of it all. I think we are all very aware of the negative effects of salt, sugar and fat when they are consumed at above average amounts. No matter what is being sold, whether it is food or not, the producer is going to do whatever it takes to make the consumer want their product. Food is not an exception. The chemists that are hired by the food giants know how to find the “pleasure point” and they are very aware that humans will never tire of fat. I think it is safe to say that we were all generally aware of this process. It’s practically old news for us, especially after all that we have talked about in class. Even still, those who aren’t in our class still know that food manufacturers are able to manipulate goods to make us want them more and more. There is nothing natural about an Oreo and we can all accept that fact and still crave them as we walk down the aisles of the supermarket. It is no secret that we have always been hooked to the artificial yumminess of processed goodies that give us that sticky feeling on the inside of our mouths. So, what was the real point? To learn that we consume 22 teaspoons of sugar a day or an over abundance of cheese in a year? Perhaps. But I still struggle to find the true purpose. 

6 comments:

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  2. Moss even admits that we know it, therefore we are dished a background story on the history of how we were hooked - coke, lies, and sugar.
    Moreover, I think it would it would have been interesting to explore other lies we ourselves propagate - inexactitudes including the personal-life benefits of shellfish and lobster.

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  5. It was somewhat discouraging to learn that everything I eat has been biologically engineered to create an addiction within me, thus ensuring that I slowly kill myself with processed foods over the course of decades while my hard earned dollars only put more arrows into Big Food's ominous corporate quiver. Does the perspective gained from reading Salt, Sugar, Fat make you more likely to watch what you eat?

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  6. I think you give the masses too much credit for understanding how foodstuffs are manipulated to hit all our pleasure points. If we all really understood how terrible some of this overly processed food is, why do we continually go back for me. The parallels between processed foods (big agribusiness) and tobacco are amazing, yet one is demonized and regulated, while the other is celebrated in our culture. Why?

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